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Show SAFETY FIRST. Exports of coal to Canada in large ; amounts through Great Lakea ports! will no longer be unrestricted. There ! have been numerous complaints from 1 the northwestern states that they have been shut off froa obtaining an adc-j qnate fuel supply. This condition of at- . fairs is to be rectified although there ' is no intention upon the part of the j administration to leave the Canadians ; bare so far as coal is concerned. The intention is to regulate the shipments so that no injustice will be done. Un- j der the new rule a license for shipping 1 coal out of the country must be obtained ob-tained and the fuel administration must, give its consent or Dr. Harry A. Garfield will impose The necessary re- i st rictions on such ccal shipments. In line with this course of procedure the exports admin'M ra'. bin beard has issued a iuIiu that hereafter sbip-meuts sbip-meuts of certain foo is to Canada and ; Newfoundland will require the same l form of bet-use required for their siiij -i merit to other countries. The food ad- ministrations of both the I'nited States 1 and ' auada are ro-operating 'u lus matter. While there is no present iuten-j iuten-j tton to restrict food shipment.-! to Can-I Can-I ada the rulii;g has been made for the purpose of putting the United States in j position to conserve its supplies if a ; shortage appears probable, iome food-I food-I stuffs will be allowed to go to Canada I without license and all such products will also be exported to Mexico, where complaints have been made that such shipments have been held up at the border bor-der by overzealous collectors. Just now the United States, with one hundred millions of people of its own to feed, is expected to make provision for feeding hundreds of millions of people of other countries, not only our belligerent bel-ligerent allies, but the neutrals as well. Notwithstanding the fact that fairly good croos, with increased acreage, have been produced, we cannot meet the demands de-mands made upon us for food. We have a surplus of some products, it is true, but unless all necessary precautions aro taken to conserve our supplies our surplus sur-plus will soon be turned into a shortage short-age and much suffering will result. AVe see little hope for the neutrals under such conditions, especially those countries coun-tries which have been selling their products prod-ucts to Germany and leaving their own markets practically drained of the necessaries nec-essaries of life. At least this appears to be the situation, judging from the pleas made by the special missions now in this country. It must have been apparent to the officials of-ficials of the neutral countries of northern north-ern Europe that there was grave danger dan-ger of a world shortage of food and that it was also practically certain that sooner or later the United States would be drawn into the war. Instead of exporting ex-porting food to Germany they should have looked out for their own people first. Sweden not only failed to do this, but actually crippled her agricultural industry in-dustry in order, to put more men into the mines to furnish Germany with vast quantities of iron with which to manufacture munitions of war. "Wc do not believe Sweden will get a bushel of wheat in the United States while the conflict rages and the best thing the Swedes can do is to till every available acre of land next year so that they may have food for winter. The United States will not have anything to share until after the war fs over, and it is absolutely ab-solutely useless to depend upon us. We do not desire to see the people of any country in the world suffer from lack : of food, but as the Lord only helps ; those who help themselves the people of the neutral countries may very prop-, prop-, erly blame their own governments if the worst happens; Just now all eyes are turned upon Argentina, Ar-gentina, which is supposed to have a surplus of food. It is understood that some of the neutrals have contracted for Argentine- wheat and .other foodstuffs. food-stuffs. There is a chance, however, that the Buenos Aires government will break with the kaiSfer and follow the course of the United States as regards her exports. In any event it is extremely extreme-ly unlikely that the rulers of the South American republic will allow grain to be shipped to Europe with the full knowledge that some of it is certain to find its way into German. Taking it all in all the food situation in the world is one that requires careful handling and we look to those in charge of such matters mat-ters in the United States to see that our soldier boys at the front and the army of toilers at home are well supplied sup-plied with all the necessaries of life before we begin to consider the w'ants of other people. This is the plain duty of Messrs. Hoover and Garfield. |